Paranoid
by K-yers
Summary: After the terrifying attacks of the Darach and Alpha pack, Teanna Waid is struggling to get her life back in order. But the beacon in Beacon Hills is bringing her an old enemy, and this time, it's determined to destroy her.
1. 1: Reach for Me

**A/N: Hello everybody and welcome to "Paranoid". Before you start reading this, you should know that this story is number four in a series so if you don't read the others then you're going to be very confused. Also this story takes place during season 3B, simply because the beginning of this season felt like a season all by its self. So sit back and enjoy, "Paranoid". **

* * *

My alarm started ringing and, with the appropriate response, Isaac groaned beside. I opened my eyes a little and looked over to him. He was still sleeping, sprawled out and about to fall out of my bed. I found myself smiling at him as I got out of bed. His mop of dirty blond hair was unruly.

As I started to get ready, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I glanced back at Isaac: he was still snoring away on my bed. A year ago, I would've pushed the feeling of being watched away. But now, I stopped what I was doing and looked around my bedroom, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Isaac groaned and sat up, squinting at me.

"What's up, Tea?" Isaac asked. I shook my head, still feeling like I was being stared at. Isaac stood up, wearing nothing but his shorts. I stopped my mediocre search to stare at him. How did Isaac get into my room again...?

"I don't think anyone's there," He said. I blinked at him, and next thing I knew, I was standing in a forest with bright sunlight streaming in through the canopy. And then I realized, I was only dreaming, and Isaac and I weren't together anymore.

"Your heart is hurting, young one," Hestia's voice came from behind me. I turned around to see the familiar figure of my first past life. Hestia looked just as beautiful as she always did, with golden hair blowing softly in the wind. Her blue eyes were sympathetic.

I let out a shuddering sigh. "I assume you know everything that happened recently." Hestia nodded. "Yeah, well, in the words of my mom, 'If it was meant to happen, it would'."

Hestia gave me a small smile that told me that she didn't truly believe me. "Walk with me, child." She ordered. I fell into step beside her as we strolled through the forest. We weren't walking for long before we came across a group of other generations of the phoenicis. They all waved at me and Hestia. I waved back, but suddenly remembered something I had always wanted to ask Hestia.

"Hestia, when I die, am I going to stay here with you all forever?" I asked.

She chuckled. "No, the women you see here all choose to stay. The phoenicis is allowed to travel between their personal heaven and our heaven. You will not have to spend eternity here in these woods, so do not fret."

"I'll try not to," I said. Hestia sighed and I looked at her; she seemed to look sad now.

"You grieve over your personal loss with Isaac, and you also deeply worry over Scott, Stiles, and Alison." Hestia said. "On top of that, you have not heard from Derek in a long time and you worry for him as well. You have too many troubles in your head, young one."

"I know I do," I said with a sharp edge in my tone. "But what else am I supposed to do? It seems that now-a-days my whole job is to worry about everyone."

Hestia stared at me for a long time. But she never answered. Instead I woke up to my real alarm, laying in my real bed. And just to make sure that I was really awake, I pinched myself. The sharp pain told me that I was awake, and the alarm was telling me that I was going to be late for school.

I quickly took a shower and got dressed into something Lydia had given me. She had given several dresses and dozens of blouses and nice shirts. I threw on a cream-colored dress and put on a few bracelets and a necklace Lydia had also given me. She was determined to "step up my wardrobe" and Chelsea was happy to get whatever I didn't want. I went downstairs to get breakfast.

Chelsea was already there, eating a bowl of cereal. I poured myself some and began eating without really tasting it. Chelsea noticed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm swell," I said. Chelsea narrowed her at me. "Really! I'm just tired, you know, with all the Darach and Alpha Pack drama, I'd be surprised if I wasn't exhausted from it all."

Chelsea sighed, realizing she wasn't getting any more out of me. We finished getting ready and headed off for school. I parked in my usual spot, right next to Stiles's blue jeep and Lydia's car. I noticed that Stiles's jeep wasn't there though. Chelsea noticed my immediate alarm and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure he's fine!" She said. "It's not like he died overnight." I gave her a sharp glance and Chelsea left to go find her friends. I sighed and leaned against my car, knowing that Stiles should be here soon.

Sure enough, his jeep pulled up and almost ran me over. "Hey!" I yelled. Stiles exited the vehicle and walked over to me.

"Sorry, Tea." He said. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. There were a lot of weird dreams."

I blinked. "What happened?" Stiles recounted how it was all so real, from Lydia waking up in his bed to talking to Scott about sleep paralysis. I felt even more worried for him than ever. If this was happening to Stiles, then what was happening to Scott and Alison?

"That's not all, Tea." Stiles said in a hushed voice. We were almost at the school building by now, but Stiles stopped us from walking any further. I listened intently as he talked. "I was getting books for school when I saw one of the titles of my books was all jumbled up and it didn't make any sense. But when I looked at it a few seconds later, I could read the title again." He paused, staring at my face. "You don't think I'm going insane, do you?"

"No," I said automatically. "It's that darkness that Deaton talked about before the surrogate sacrifice. He said that something like this would happen, but I'm sure it's temporary." I stopped talking when we saw Scott's bike roar into the school parking lot. Almost as soon as Scott got off his bike, the twins, Ethan and Aiden, hurried to him. Stiles and I glanced at each other before heading that way.

But before we reached them, Isaac joined them. I immediately veered away from them and started for the school instead. I heard Stiles yell out, "What?", but he didn't pursue me. I heard him call out to me though, "Meet us at my locker, alright?"

I felt like an animal running away with my tail between my legs. But what else could I do? Every time I saw Isaac, I just remembered how we had spent days in each others company. I joined the crowd of students going into the school and I went straight for Stiles's locker, knowing that he'd be angry if I bailed on him and Scott completely.

People passed by me without a second glance. I caught a glimpse of Lydia going to her first period class, but she didn't see me. My attention was shifted from my busy friend to an Asian girl nearby. Her books had just slipped from her hands and had made a big crashing noise. A group of guys laughed at her and the girl's face turned bright red.

I left Stiles's locker and walked up to the girl. She was struggling to pick up her books; she seemed to have an awful lot of them. I bent down and started helping. The girl flinched back and stared at me with fright.

"You planning on running the library out of business?" I tried joking. The girl cracked a small smile and shook her head. We both stood up, each with a stack of books.

"I just got all my textbooks this morning." She explained. "I couldn't hold them and open this stupid locker at the same time."

"Do you want me to hold the books while you open the locker?" I asked. She hesitated before nodding, handing the rest of the book to me. While she was opening her locker, I saw that Scott and Stiles had made it to our original meeting place. They were both looking around for me.

The locker door rattled as it opened. I started handing the girl her books as she stacked them. "Thanks again," She said. "You just saved me from more embarrassment."

"I was new last year," I said. "It's silly how they give all these books at once." She nodded, agreeing. "My name's Tea, by the way."

She tilted her head. "Like the drink?"

"My actual name is Teanna, but my friend Stiles thought that it was a mouthful. So he shortened it for me." I said.

"I'm Kira," The girl told me. "No cool nickname." I snorted. "What's your first class? I hope you don't mind me asking."

"I have history for first." I said. Kira told me that she had the same. I glanced over to where Scott and Stiles were standing. Isaac was with them now. "I'm heading there now, actually."

Kira looked happy to have made a friend. "Let's go!" I didn't look back at the boys as I walked with Kira to history. Once inside, I took my seat. Kira looked a little confused but went back to a seat in the far corner of the classroom.

Scott and Stiles entered the room and Stiles gave me an angry and disappointed face. "Tea, where were you? We talked about some serious issues without you there!" He then quietly caught me up on Scott and Alison both having hallucinations also. "Did you and Deaton ever figure out how to mentally heal someone?"

I shook my head with a sigh. "No. It's harder than regular healing because there's no wound for me to focus on." The class became quiet as our new history teacher walked up to the front of the class. Stiles turned around in his seat to behave as a normal student.

"Hello," He said. "My name is Mr. Yukimura and I'm going to be your new history teacher. A little about myself is that my family and I moved here three weeks ago. My daughter actually attends Beacon Hills High School, though you never would've known because she hasn't mentioned anyone or even brought anyone home from school."

There was a groan and I turned around along with the rest of class to see Kira trying to hide underneath her hoodie. Scott smiled to himself as he turned back around. As the lesson went on, it seemed that school might actually be semi-normal. Yukimura didn't assign us any homework, for which I was glad. I was already behind a lot of work, considering that a little over two weeks ago we fought a Darach _and _a pack of Alphas.

The bell rang for the next class. Scott, Stiles, and I went to Stiles's locker while Scott filled me in on everything that had happened to him and Alison. Stiles was having trouble with the lock on his locker. He jerked at it angrily, Scott and I just blinked at him.

"Maybe we just need a little more time to get back to normal," Scott said.

Stiles snorted. "We hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures. Things will never be normal again." He pointed out.

I sighed and shook my head, knowing that Stiles was completely right. Now that Beacon Hills was, well, a beacon for supernatural beings, all sorts of creatures would be hurrying here. I thought of a nightmare I had a while ago, about me, Stiles, and Lydia running away from something in the halls.

Whatever was coming, it'd be here soon.


	2. 2: Dreams of Terror

My parents were about as settled as I was when it came to the recent events. My dad tried to get a handle on the Alpha pack, not understanding how a bunch of Alphas were a part of a single pack. Meanwhile Chelsea was confused about the Darach. I tried to explain to the best of my abilities, but I don't think that I did a good job.

That night I fell asleep almost as soon as I put my head to the pillow. When I opened my eyes, I was in an extremely crowded city street. Humidity clogged the streets as I watched people rode by on bicycles and cars and taxis clogged the streets. I looked around at the locals faces and saw that every one of them was Asian. I immediately wished that I could tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean.

Nearby, I heard someone with a British accent speaking. I turned to see a beautiful woman in her late thirties with curled blond hair and perfectly done makeup. A voice inside my head told me that she was one of my past lives-a British woman named Irene Dawson. To me, Irene looked a lot like Marilyn Monroe. I got closer so that I could hear what she was saying.

"Come on now, John!" Irene called out behind her. I followed her gaze to see an extremely tall man with a thick mustache lagging behind her. He joined her and Irene giggled, getting up on the toes of her heels to give him a peck on the lips. John smiled to himself.

"What makes you think that this woman wants to talk to us anyway?" John asked. I looked at their left hands. Yep, they were married. The British couple went into a slim building and I quickly followed.

"She came to me, dearie." Irene said. "She said it was of the most importance."

John snorted. "She couldn't have traveled to London for us? You know how hard it was to convince Serena to let us come here? She didn't want her strongest Beta and the phoenicis going on a field trip all the way to Japan."

"I am aware of Serena and her worries." Irene said dismissively. "She just doesn't want me getting hurt."

"Well, with your current condition, I don't blame her." John said in a whisper as a group of young Japanese kids ran by. I didn't know what was so bad about what John said, but Irene glared at him and I could've sworn I saw beads of sweat form on her forehead. But that could have to do with the heat.

"I'm perfectly fine." Irene said stubbornly. "I'm still able to perform duties for my pack." John opened his mouth but didn't say anything. They went farther into the building and came to a steep set of stairs that ended with a door. Irene hesitated briefly before going up. John watched his wife go and followed even more slowly. I didn't hesitate before following: I was practically a ghost right now, I could do anything and not get hurt.

The room they entered was dark and dusty, almost as if no one had used this room for years. Heavy shawls covered the only two windows in the room. John shut the door behind him. Irene glanced around for a moment before a raspy voice from the center of the room was heard.

"I told you...come _alone_..." It hissed the last word. John flinched and looked at the door, but Irene took a step forward towards the voice. A shape was beginning to form in the center of the room. It grew taller until it was the size of an adult woman. A body was formed and an elderly Asian woman stood there glaring at John.

"John is my husband," Irene said haughtily. "Wherever I travel, he has a right to come with me. And I assume that you are the creature having troubles?"

"I am," The woman said. "My name is Nanumi. And I have...angered a certain spirit that wishes me ill will." Irene raised a perfect eyebrow. I blinked. I vaguely remembered Hestia telling me about sometimes the phoenicis could act as peace-keepers with other creatures. Irene was the first of my past lives that I've seen do that.

"What's the spirit called?" Irene asked.

Nanumi blinked. "He has had many names. If you knew anything of Japanese creatures, you would know that he likes to take the name of the one he possess." Nanumi paused. "I tried to destroy him, and now he wants me dead."

"Why did you try to destroy him?" Irene asked in a bored voice.

"Someone summoned him to kill my family. A strife between two families that got out of hand. I tried to destroy him, but it failed and now he haunts me."

There was the sound of someone opening the door and the people in the room turned around to see a little boy, about seven years old, staring at all of them. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I looked at this boy's facial expression. It was manic and cruel, he had a wide smile that seemed to dominate his face. Nanumi dropped to her knees and grabbed at Irene's dress.

"Save me from him, _please_!" She cried, tears spilling from her eyes. Irene yanked her dress away and stared at Nanumi in a mixed expression of pity and disgust.

"_This _is what's causing all the strife?" John asked, looking like he was trying to hold in laughter. He stepped forward and leaned down so that his face was right in the kid's face. "He's barely a kid, he looks so underfed."

The kid gave John a freakishly large smile and cocked his head. By an invisible force, John was thrown away from the kid and against the wall. I heard a sickening crunch that said that John Dawson was dead. Nanumi screamed and Irene stared at her husband's corpse. The kid turned his gaze to Irene.

"Move, Adele." He said in an eerily adult voice. "Or you'll die the same."

Irene, for her credit, stood directly in front of Nanumi, protecting her as much as a phoenicis could. The kid cocked his head and I watched in horror as one of my past lives had her neck snapped.

I woke up sweating in my bed. I panted, feeling an ache in my neck, as if I had been the one to have my neck broken. Hestia had shown the last moments of Irene's life for some reason, I just couldn't think of why. Maybe whatever that kid had been was coming here. I thought of his twisted and dominating smile and I let out a frightened sob.

* * *

"What happened to you?" Stiles asked when I saw him in Econ the next day. Scott was looking at me curiously too. I quickly explained my dream, and both of them looked terrified after I was finished.

They asked the obvious questions first, like what that monster was, what kind of creature Nanumi had been, and if the kid-monster was still alive. Then Scott asked a question that I hadn't really been thinking of.

"Do you know what was wrong with Irene?" Scott asked. "By what you said, both her husband and Alpha wanted her to be careful."

"I hadn't really thought about it," I admitted. "Compared to everything else going on in that scenario I figured that Irene's health problems was the least of my concerns."

Stiles laughed as Coach entered the room from his office. "Shut up, Stilinski," He snapped. Stiles raised his eyebrows at Coach. I smirked and stifled laughter. It seemed that Coach woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

As Coach started to go on about the wonder of Economics, Stiles began scribbling in his notebook. At first, it didn't seem out of the ordinary. But then the sound of Stiles's pen was getting louder than Coach's words. People were glancing at Stiles with weird expressions on their faces. I didn't blame them: Stiles's pen was now a whole lot louder than what Coach was saying.

Coach stopped talking and stared at Stiles for a second. "Stilinski!" He yelled. Stiles didn't respond, or even give an indication that he had heard. "Stilinski!" Coach said even louder. Stiles's pen just got louder as his writing became more frantic. Scott and I looked at each other, baffled as to what was happening. Coach glanced between the two of us, silently asking for an explanation. Instead of being calm, he screamed. "STILINSKI!"

Stiles's face jumped up from its low vantage point on the paper to Coach. His eyes were wide and this seemed to be the first time he heard Coach say his name. "Sorry, Coach. I just dozed off."

Coach gave Stiles a weird look and continued talking about Economics. Scott and I stared at Stiles. "Dude," Scott said in a hushed voice. "You weren't sleeping."

Stiles frowned at him. I nodded down to his notebook, which was covered with whatever Stiles had been writing. We all looked down at it at the same time, and yo my terror, I saw, written over and over and over, two words.

_Wake up._


	3. 3: Bardo

Scott, Stiles, and I walked out to a table in the courtyard. I sat between them, nibbling on chips and trying to get Stiles to eat. But he was still pretty shaken up from his experience in Economics. Scott too was nervous about his own experiences, which from what he told me was that he could no longer control his shifting abilities. And as from what I heard about Alison, she was being haunted by her dead aunt.

Lydia marched up and took the seat across from Stiles. I tensed as Alison and Isaac walked up together. Scott placed a hand on my arm, sensing that I wanted to run away again. I glanced at him. Scott just looked at me with understanding eyes, "You can't hide from them forever."

Alison and Isaac sat down. Isaac, for his credit, looked sort of awkward. I shoved more chips into my mouth and began studying the painting patterns on the table.

"Okay," Scott began. "What is it when someone is seeing things?"

"And they can't tell what's real or not," Stiles added.

"And seeing visions of dead relatives," Alison said, chewing on her nails. Lydia saw this habit and forced Alison to put her hands down.

Isaac snorted at their symptoms. "They're all locked up 'cause they're insane."

"Ha-ha," Stiles said sarcastically. "Could you at least try to be helpful?" I didn't look up at any of them, just listened to them talk while eating my chips.

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer," Isaac shot back. "So being helpful is kinda new for me."

"Are we still milking that?" Stiles asked, his arm that was against mine was getting tenser. I glanced up just in time to see that girl, Kira walking up to us. I alerted this to the rest of the group and we fell silent as she walked right up to our table.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhearing what you guys were talking about," Kira said. Scott and Isaac exchanged glances. "And I think I _know _what you're talking about." When no one said anything, Kira continued, turning slightly red. "It's called Bardo. It means 'in-between-sate'-the state between life and death."

"And what do they call you?" Lydia asked her with a raised eyebrow. Kira turned a little more red.

"Kira," Scott answered. He made eye contact with Kira and smiled, causing her to blush even more. I exchanged a look with Stiles, both of us getting the hints that Scott liked this new girl. Alison and Lydia stared at him while Isaac was staring at a pen, choosing to ignore Kira. Scott saw everyone looking at him. "She's in our history class." He told me and Stiles.

Lydia looked back to Kira. "So, are you talking Bardo as in Buddhism or Indian?"

"Either of them, I guess," Kira said, making a move to sit down. Stiles hurried and nearly plowed me into the seat to let her sit. I found myself crushed between Scott and Stiles. "All that stuff you guys were talking about, it's all in Bardo. There are progressive states of hallucinations: some you can see, some you can just hear. And you be visited by peaceful or wrathful deities."

"_Wrath_ful deities," Isaac repeated, stressing the first part of the word. "What are those?"

"Like demons," I said. Kira nodded at me, letting me know that I was right. I made eye contact with Isaac, which he ended up breaking to look back at Kira.

"Demons?" Stiles said. "Why not?"

"If it's a progressive state, then what's the final one?" I asked Kira, turned my back to Isaac as much as I could.

"Death," Kira said in a simple way. "You die."

Stiles sighed and snatched my chip bag away from me so that he could steal some. "Fantastic,"

* * *

That night I dreamt that I was standing at the edge of the forest. I had once heard some people say that forests all look the same, but I could tell that this was a set of woods that I had never been to. I looked around, there was a village a little ways away. I was able to see people inside the village from where I was standing.

"Stoppit!" I heard a little kid's voice scream. A little girl around the age of four came running out of the woods on fat legs. She had white-blond hair and pale skin and a voice in my head told me that her name was Gemma.

Gemma tripped and cried out as she skinned her knee. I looked back to the village; what the hell was this version of myself doing all the way up here? Almost as soon as I thought this, another kid came out the woods: a little boy about five years old. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and he also had a wide smile that dominated his face. I felt a cold shudder as I realized that this was the same creature that had killed Irene.

But judging by the way these little kids dressed, this was at least a hundred years before Irene.

Gemma managed to get up and stumble a bit farther away from the monster. But the monster possessing the little boy caught up and pushed her down. Gemma cried out in pain and the creature stood above her.

"I'm not Adele!" Gemma cried. She was crying so hard that snot was coming out of her nose. I was finding this extremely difficult to watch this. But Hestia was sending me these dreams for a reason, so I had to learn from them.

"I know you're not Adele," The creature said. He twitched his hands and Gemma's neck, just like Irene's, was snapped. I jolted awake, sweating with that pain in my neck. I collapsed back into bed, feeling scared. I really wanted to know what this thing was. Was it coming to Beacon Hills? Probably. Was it going to try and kill me..._again_? At this point, it seemed very possible.


	4. 4: Werecoyote

I got a call from Stiles later that night. I hadn't been able to go back to sleep, so I was had just been doing some school work that I had neglected during the fiasco with the Darach. I gladly took a break from Physics to talk to Stiles.

"What is it?" I asked, stifling a yawn.

"Scott and I are in the woods hunting for a little girl who turned into a werecoyote." Stiles replied. I blinked and groaned.

"Seriously, is there anything normal in this town?"

"I wish," Stiles said. He caught me up on how they went to the girl's old house to try and catch a scent, but got nothing. "Scott was chasing her through the woods and actually found her-but, she was in coyote form and now he thinks that she can't change back."

"And why are you calling at one in the morning for?" I asked.

"Just so I can hear the sound of your voice," Stiles said sarcastically. "For healing magic, Tea! This girl might need it. Can you see if you can come down here in the morning?"

"I'll come now," I said, switching him to speaker so that I could get dressed.

"What? Why now?"

"Well, it must be important. And I had another dream so I can't sleep. I'll tell you about it when I get there." I hung up before he could say anything else and finished getting ready.

My house was completely quiet as I snuck out. And the roads to the reservation were deserted. I kept thinking of my dreams and felt extremely uneasy. I wanted to know what this beast was, but at the same time, I didn't. I made it to the forest and parked right next to Stiles's jeep and Scott bike. By now, I didn't have a problem walking straight into the woods at night. But now, I halted right before entering. Why had Hestia showed me a vision of Gemma getting killed in a forest? Of all nights, she had to send me that dream tonight?

I called Stiles again as I began stomping around the woods. Leaves crunched under my boots and there wasn't much light from the moon tonight. Stiles answered on the third ring and said that Scott would find me using his werewolf senses. And sure enough, a little after a few minutes Scott found me. Stiles was following behind him.

"We found her den," Scott said. "And Stiles called his dad, so the police should be here soon."

"What was in her den?" I asked.

"Um, a jacket, a doll, and a whole bunch of coyote crap," Stiles said. He lifted his shoe and I saw where Stiles had apparently stepped in coyote crap. Scott led the way back to the girl's den and showed me the stuff inside.

The police showed up soon after that and Sheriff Stilinski came right over to us. "Are you sure that she was a were..." He didn't finish his sentence but gave Scott a weird look. He obviously wasn't okay with the supernatural yet.

"I looked right into her eyes and they glowed, just like mine." Scott said.

"Makes sense, dad." Stiles piped in. I nodded in agreement.

"But it wasn't a _girl_," Sheriff said. "It was a four-legged coyote, right?"

Stiles gaped at him. "Well, that's the part we don't exactly have figured out yet." Sheriff gave Stiles a look that I had to stifle laughter at.

"But if it was a full moon and she changed while her mom was driving, it could've happened." Scott said.

"Horrible things could've happened," Stiles agreed.

I looked at the sheriff. "If I can get close enough to her, I might be able to heal her back normal."

"You can do that?" Sheriff asked with raised eyebrows.

I swallowed. "Well, it'd be a fantastic time to find out if I can."

Sheriff shook his head. "This is insane. Listen, I don't want any of you talking about this, especially not Mr. Tate." With that said, he left to go talk to his fellow officers. Another car pulled up and Scott's dad came out of the car with a tall and wiry man. Stiles muttered an oh no as Sheriff handed over the blanket that the boys found in the den.

"I take it as that's the girl's dad?" I questioned. Scott nodded. Sheriff and Agent McCall went off to talk. Mr. Tate began to cry into the blanket. I glanced at Scott and Stiles. "I vote we leave," They both nodded along with me and we hurried from the crime scene and to our vehicles.

* * *

That Monday at school, Alison came into my history class to show Scott, Stiles, and I the possible places that Malia-the werecoyote-could be hiding. But the bell rang and she had to leave. We had started to go back to our seats but Kira blocked Scott's way.

"Hi, I'm Kira!" She said to him excitedly. "You already knew that." She continued to ramble as Stiles and I edged around them to go to our seats.

"What do think they're talking about?" Stiles asked as he slide into the seat right in front of me. I looked back at Scott and Kira; she was rambling while he was nodding and saying something every now and then.

"I'm going with that she's confessing her feelings for him while Scott tries to confess his feelings, but he can't because of the rambling." I said. Stiles smirked.

"I was going to go with that she telling him that she knows all about the supernatural and Scott, terrified that his werewolf secret will be discovered, is plotting ways to make sure Kira never tells."

"That's a little dark, Stiles." I said, raised my eyebrows quizzically at him.

Stiles gave me a surprised look. "You think I'd imagine Scott plotting some girl's death?" Stiles made his mouth move wider than necessary, causing me to laugh. "I was having Scott think about dating her so that she keeps his secret."

Scott came over to sit down, carrying a stack of papers. "Why do you two have to do that every time I talk to a girl?"

"To be fair, you talk to quite a lot of girls." I said.

"The only girls I ever talk to is you, Alison, Lydia, and my teachers!" Scott tried to defend himself.

"That's what makes it so much more fun," Stiles replied with a smirk. He and I laughed at Scott's expense and turned around once Yukimura began to talk about Japanese camps during World War II.

"Do we have any volunteers to read for the class?" Yukimura asked. When no one jumped at the opportunity, he called on someone. "Mr. Stilinski? How about you?"

Stiles stared and looked really nervous. "Oh, um, maybe someone else should go?"

"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski," Yukimura said firmly. I nudged Stiles on the shoulder blade to go up there. He headed that way with shaking legs. I knew all about Stiles's new reading problem, where sometimes he could read just fine and other times he couldn't read anything at all.

Stiles stood at the podium and looked down at the open text book. He frowned at it for a second, gripped the edges of the podium, and then looked like he was about to pass out. I watched as his face got considerably pale and I was able to see him shaking from my seat. Scott and I looked at each other once before both standing up.

"Stiles, are you okay?" Scott asked. Stiles couldn't answer, he was panting for breath. Scott and I made it to our friend just as he almost collapsed. "We're going to take him to the nurse!" Scott told Yukimura. We took either side of him and hurried out of class.

Instead of going to the nurse's office, we brought him to the locker room. Stiles ran ahead of us and fell down on the tile floor. My right hand glowed with orange fire and I grasped at him. Color rose in Stiles's cheeks, but he still wasn't able to calm down.

"Dammit!" I said. Whatever was wrong with Stiles, it was mentally. I instantly felt angry with myself because I hadn't learned how to mentally heal anyone yet.

"Is this a panic attack?" Scott asked.

"I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming!" Stiles panted, holding his head in his hands.

"This isn't a dream, Stiles, this is real!" I said.

"How do you tell if this is a dream or not?" Scott asked, trying to help me calm Stiles down.

"Fingers," Stiles panted. "You have extra fingers in dreams."

"How many do I have?" Scott asked, holding up his hands to show Stiles his fingers. "Stiles, count with me." Somehow, Stiles was able to count all of Scott's fingers. After he was assured that we were real, Stiles calmed down considerably. Scott and I sat down across from him, letting him calm down before we spoke.

Stiles gasped. "What the hell is happening to me?"

"You're going to be okay," Scott said immediately.

"Am I?" Stiles said back. "Are you? Scott you can't transform. Alison is being haunted by her dead aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind. We can't do this. We can't help Malia. We can't help anyone."

"We can try," Scott said. "We can always try."

I shuffled forward until I was close enough to hug Stiles. I put an arm around his shoulder and hugged him as much as I could. Stiles leaned into the hug and closed his eyes, tears falling slowly from his eyes. I looked at Scott and shook my head. This surrogate sacrifice thing was getting to all of us.


	5. 5: Hunting

Scott left the locker room to go get our stuff from Yukimura's classroom. Soon after he left, I began to help Stiles's to his feet. He was shaky but otherwise seemed okay again. "I'm fine now, Tea." He said. "You don't need to stay with me."

"And what about if you have another panic attack?" I asked, walking as slowly with him through the locker room. Stiles didn't say anything. We were almost out when we heard a crash from the next locker room next door. Stiles and I looked at each other quickly before running towards the crashing noise. When we entered, we saw Scott and Kira, who was looking mighty terrified. All of our backpacks were on the floor.

"I'll call my dad," Stiles said.

The police arrived with animal control. Stiles went off to talk to his dad privately. Scott, Kira, and I left the locker room to give the police space. Yukimura swept Kira away as soon as he could, leaving Scott and me alone in the halls.

We made small talk about Stiles, when Scott cut off. "I hear them talking."

"Well, what are they saying?" I asked.

Scott's eyes widened. "Sheriff says that if they catch Malia, then they'll put her down." I sighed and shook my head. We wandered down the hallway until we found Stiles and his dad talking at the end of the hall. I couldn't hear a word they were saying, but Scott could. He would nod every now and then, until the two of them walked away. I exchanged a look with Scott before following them at a safe distance back to the locker room.

When we got back inside the locker room, Kira was trying to shake off her dad. Stiles, Scott, and I kept to the side of the room, staying out of the way as the animal control people tried to figure out where the coyote had gone. Stiles handed me my backpack and Scott his.

"Stiles, what's that?" Scott asked Stiles suddenly. I followed his gaze and saw a large tear in Stiles's backpack. And from inside, a baby doll's face was peering out at us. Creepy.

"Is that the doll from the wreck?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"I thought Scott could use it," Stiles said, defending himself. "You know, for scent!"

"Where did you get that?"

The three of us spun around to see Mr. Tate, the slaughtered family's father, staring at us open-mouthed. He was looking at us and then his eyes would look down to the doll in Stiles's torn backpack. His face went from sad to furious in about point-two seconds and he rushed forward. "Where did you find this?" He snapped, ripping the doll from Stiles's hands.

Sheriff Stilinski rushed forward and separated us from Mr. Tate. "Mr. Tate," He said in a hushed voice. "I don't know if you have your own police scanner or what, but you can't be here." He placed his hands on Mr. Tate to escort him away, but he froze. Mr. Tate sucked in his breath as Sheriff slowly opened his coat to reveal a hand gun.

"I have a permit," Mr. Tate said.

"California school zones are gun_ free,_" Sheriff Stilinski said through bared teeth. "Permit or no permit. Now you need to leave." He proceeded to pretty much push Mr. Tate out of the room.

The whole time, Mr. Tate was talking to him. "You find that animal-that _thing_-and you take it down!" I exchanged a glance with Scott and Stiles. We need to find Malia faster than Mr. Tate could.

* * *

I followed behind Stiles's jeep and Scott's bike to the vet clinic. We hurried to park our vehicles and rushed inside to find Deaton standing with Isaac. I stiffened and avoided eye contact with him. Isaac did the same for me. Scott quickly explained our problem and Deaton took us into the back room.

"I have a horse tranquilizer that would work in seconds for a werecoyote," Deaton explained. "However, I only have three. So whoever is shooting needs to be a damn good shot."

"Alison's a perfect shot," Scott said immediately.

"She _was _a perfect shot," Isaac interrupted.

"She can do it," Scott argued.

Isaac snorted. "That is if we can find the thing,"

"What is the point of him?" Stiles asked, pointing at Isaac. "What does he do, other than the persistent negativity and the _scarf. _What's up with the scarf anyway? It's sixty-five degrees out."

Isaac glared at Stiles. "Maybe I'm just asking the question that no one wants to ask. How are we supposed to turn a coyote into a girl when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?"

"We'll figure it out," I snapped, my frustration leaking out. "Dammit just shut up already."

Scott, Stiles, Isaac, and even Deaton stared at me in surprise. I felt my face heat up as I studied the metal table beneath my hands. Stiles nudged my arm. "I agree with Tea here. So, Isaac, shut up!"

Isaac glared between me and Stiles, as if trying to make a connection. But he couldn't come up with anything and turned to Scott.

"I can change her back," Scott said. "Peter once forced me to change, and Deucalion did it too."

"Scott, this is a werecoyote," I pointed out, my face still red. "Who knows if it'll even work?"

"Could we call Derek?" Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head. "He hasn't been answering any of my texts or calls."

"I wouldn't trust Peter," Isaac added.

"What about the twins?" Stiles suggested. "Lydia's been seeing Aiden apparently." I nodded along with Stiles's plan. We all left Deaton alone and walked outside. Scott and Stiles were to go get Lydia to find Aiden and Ethan. Isaac was going to check on Alison. And I was going to see if Derek would answer me, instead of Scott.

I reached my house and called Derek three times. After the final call where he didn't answer, I wrote out a text: _Derek, Scott needs Alpha advice. We know you're not an Alpha anymore but he needs your help. So hurry up and get back here._

After I finished doing that night's homework, I had begun to yawn. I remembered my last two dreams, about Irene and Gemma. I didn't want to sleep if it meant reliving another death of mine. I continued doing school work until I had finished all that I had brought home with me. By that time, it was two o'clock in the morning.

I groaned. "Hestia you better be listening because I don't want another dream tonight. Let me have just _one _night of peace." I fell asleep as my desk a few minutes after that.

Either Hestia hadn't listened to me, or she just didn't care. Because I got another past life dream that night.

I was in a huge castle room; there was a throne a few feet away. And sitting on it was a gorgeous blond girl with icy blue eyes. The voice in my head told me that her name was Adele, and that this hundreds of years before Gemma. Adele was staring down at a man, who was looking at her with pleading in his eyes.

"Adele, you mustn't listen to Hestia." He was saying. They were speaking in French, but my brain was automatically dubbing it into English. "Hestia only wishes to drive us apart."

"And for good reason!" Adele retorted. "Hestia has shown me what you will do to my future lives, and I'm ending it here, so that I will not have to see you again: in this life or the next."

The wiry man glared at her. "If you stay with me, there will be no need to protect your future lives. I will stay with you for as long as I can!"

Adele's composure slipped a bit and she sighed. "I'm sorry, my dear. But that is a risk that I cannot take." The man stared at her for a moment, then a sick smile spread across his face, dominating it. The entire room began to rumble and the roof collapsed in. Adele screamed as the heavy stones feel on her head, but her scream was cut off.

My entire body ached when I woke up.


End file.
